


Blood on the Dance Floor

by MerryLittleMess



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec in trouble, Angst and Humor, Badass, Canon-Typical Violence, Clubbing, Demons, F/M, Fights, First Meetings, Humor, M/M, Magic, Murphy's Law, Pre-Canon, Protective Magnus Bane, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 01:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10956645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerryLittleMess/pseuds/MerryLittleMess
Summary: If there was one thing Alec hated more than being the distraction, it was playing the bait.





	Blood on the Dance Floor

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> I don't even know why I wrote this, but I can't get enough of this show and the books.  
> This is my first attempt at writing for this fandom, please let me know whether I did okay?
> 
>    
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

**Blood on the dance floor**

“You know”, Isabelle remarked casually, “This was not what I had in mind when you said we could go clubbing tonight.” Her deep red dress sparkled like a thousand miniature firework explosions as she whirled around, her black hair flying seductively. The thunder of the music rose to a crescendo, a racing heartbeat so unlike their own.

  
Jace grinned back at her. “Stop complaining, Izzy. At least you can enjoy the pleasure of my charming company.” He pulled her closer only to send her away again into the mass of bodies behind them with an elegant twist. His finger grazed her wrist and the silver whip coiled innocently around it. Through their connection, hand on hand, he could feel a laugh vibrating through her, whereas the sound was lost in the latest remix of Hunger by some Polish DJ or another. Quite appropriate, Jace thought as he spied the eighth Vermithrall demon that was lurking right behind the mixing table of said DJ.

  
“Showtime”, he muttered as Isabelle leaned close to him in order to match intelligence. Her warm breath tickled his neck as she nodded and she simultaneously released her favorite weapon. Above them, the sprinkler system suddenly came to life and a siren blared, stopping the music like a heartbeat. Lights went on and the screaming started as soon as the first needy party-goers woke from their reverie.

  
Jace evaded the stumbling mundanes without much trouble, silently congratulating Alec on his quick thinking. However, the Vermithrall seemed to disagree. Seeing their prey disappear, an unearthly screeching noise of displeasure could be heard, which spurred the last few stragglers to make haste. Jace and Izzy stood like a bastion of calm around them although Jace was itching to get to it.

  
Swish. Always on the same page, a black arrow flew past them and embedded itself right in the center of a writhing mass of a Vermithrall demon. The worms that were hit disintegrated and gave access to the slippery gray heart of the colony. Another arrow, faster than a mundane eye could follow, ended the existence of the whole demon.

  
Lazily, Jace lifted his head to the rafters of the goth club where his parabatai had found a perch. “Nice one!”, he yelled before he summoned his seraph blade “Barachiel!” and plunged into the thick of the fight. He ducked below a long arm of the humanoid looking colony of worms, slashing upwards. Greenish blood burst forth, accompanied by the even less enamoring scent of New Jersey landfill.

  
“Don’t you dare get any of that on my shoes!”, Isabelle admonished and sidestepped the wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. Jace’s grin widened, but he didn’t have time to answer as wormon number two and three were approaching rapidly. Three thick strands of demon stretched towards him, carrying hundreds of eyes and millions of sharp, poisonous teeth.

  
Of course, Jace lunged right for them. He could hear Alec’s voice in the back of his head screaming that one single nick would be enough to leave him unconscious and paralyzed, but where was the fun in being cautious? The shiny blade chopped straight through the first arm, whose material was now scrambling back to the main body. Annoying beasts. He’d have to score a hit to the heart, much like Alec had demonstrated so efficiently. With that in mind, Jace got even gloser, kicked the Vermithrall on the left backwards and engaged the one right in front. Uppercut left at the arm, slash at where the knees should have been, then dead center while the creature was rearing back.

  
“Watch out!” His parabatai senses tingled, as did the hair on the back of his neck. Where was the fourth demon? Instinctively, Jace jumped to the side and in the process lost his blade, which was still stuck in the vanishing demon heart. A split second later, an avalanche of flying worms with enormous teeth snapped their mouths shut where his head had been before. Rolling, Jace came up to face it, now armed with two daggers. He needn’t have bothered, though, because three arrows were already sticking out of the Vermithrall.

  
“Thank you!”, Jace shouted and let the dagger in his weaker right hand fly at the back of another Vermithrall that was chasing Isabelle around the bar. As soon as the worms retreated from the angel blessed steel, Izzy’s whip slashed at the pulsing gray heart.

  
“Gotta love teamwork”, Jace said mostly to himself as he jumped onto one of the raised platforms for the dancers to survey the battlefield. There were five Vermithrall left as far as he could see. Child’s play for Shadowhunters of his caliber. Nevertheless, those worm demons tended to linger in the dark unless you found them and lured them out somehow. Jace definitely planned to exterminate all of them, he thought while he took a flying leap at the biggest baddie in the room, a three meter monstrosity. Things had just gotten interesting when Alec’s voice cut through the haze of battle.

  
“Fall back! I’m almost out of arrows!” In contrast to that statement, another demon bit the dust, courtesy of Alec’s lightning fast black death. For a moment, Jace honestly tried to disentangle himself from the fight. Then a second demon fell from a nook in the ceiling and all thoughts of retreat vanished as Jace lunged, kicked and fought on muscle memory and reflexes.

* * *

 

It was quieter on the support beams for the lighting, high above the messy, sweating dancers and clueless mundanes. Alec leaned against the cool metal, his long legs curled around the black plastic box of a blue stroboscopic light, almost relaxed but watchful like a hawk nonetheless. His eyes followed his sister and brother through the crowd, easy to follow in their finery. Izzy’s revealing dress was no doubt breathtaking, but Alec’s gaze lingered on Jace’s white shirt, casual yet rendered sexy by the hint of muscled shoulders beneath.

  
“This area is off limits”, a smooth voice interrupted his corrupted thoughts. A little shaken, Alec looked up at the form of a man who was sauntering across the metal beams like it was a runway. Mundanes shouldn’t be able to see him, glamoured as he was. Furthermore, something about the youthful looks of the newcomer threw him off. Black hair, even Asian features, a confident smirk on pretty lips. Purple suit, extravagant shoes, no weapons.

  
“Who are you?”, Alec asked, feigning boredom. He kept his eyes on the scene below him, glancing at the stranger every so often. Thankfully, the guy seemed content to stand a few feet away and talk.

  
“I’m Magnus Bane. Pleasure to meet you, …?” There was a question at the end of it, which Alec chose to ignore. Perhaps he’d go away if he didn’t receive notice. No such luck.

  
“It’s impolite not to share your name once your colloquist has done so”, Magnus’s silky voice said. His amber eyes flashed with a mix of amusement and something Alec would have called danger if he’d not known better. His own body went on alert as the man took another two steps in his direction, presumably to continue their one-sided conversation. Immediately, Alec’s bow was in his hand, an arrow nocked and aimed straight at the intruder.

  
“That’s far enough”, Alec said, tone still bored but underlined with steel. Magnus chuckled, which further convinced the boy that he was either dealing with a madman or a downworlder. “Quite prickly, are we, young Shadowhunter?”

  
“I’m busy, go away.”

  
“Oh?” The downworlder still didn’t get the hint. Alec was just about to get mean when he saw Izzy’s whip unwind from her wrist. Alec swallowed, tension filling his muscles as he swung his weapon around and released, reloaded and released again.

  
“Not bad”, Magnus commented. Alec noticed that the easygoing charm was thinner than before, replaced by a serious undertone. Nevertheless, he didn’t need any distractions right now, so he focused his coldest stare on the guy. “Didn’t I make myself clear?”

* * *

 

“I’ll take my leave, then”, Magnus replied and hid his smile. This decade had been frightfully boring and he couldn’t have named the last time something unforeseen had happened. Meeting the dark haired beauty on the rafters had been a highlight of his year to start with. The discovery that it wasn’t some weird mundane but a Shadowhunter and a cute one at that had ignited his interest. And now the boy actually had the impudence to dismiss the High Warlock in his own club. Interesting indeed.

  
Inconspicuously, Magnus faded into the shadows and followed the proceedings. Apparently, the Shadowhunter’s companions were cleaning up the club’s Vermithrall infestation. Magnus hadn’t had time for that lately. And the cutie was not doing so bad either. The warlock watched the boy firing his bow nearly as fast as a modern gun, impressed despite himself at the perfect accuracy.

  
Therefore, he was confused as the boy shouted down to his friends that he was out of ammo. It was true, sure, but also highly careless. He could already sense four more Vermithrall slithering towards the unarmed victim. That doesn’t bode well, Magnus said, surprised at the pang of regret he felt for the boy’s nearing demise. The four demons passed him quietly and no more than three meters separated the creatures from the heedless lamb.

  
“Bollocks”, Magnus said, feeling the need for a British expletive. Pulling up the sleeves of his plum Gucci suit, he flourished his right hand, chanted the beginning of a spell… and broke off, dumbfounded as one of the Vermithrall hunters ceased to exist in a shower of stinky blood.

  
“What?”

  
The Shadowhunter had shouldered his bow, flipped himself twice and killed the demon with a single swipe of the tiniest dagger Magnus had seen recently. He blinked in astonishment as the boy continued to swirl around like an angel of death, wielding his diminutive sword with extraordinary grace. However, the surprise had worn off and the beasts were fighting back, giving up their humanoid form in favor of surrounding the boy. Thus, the boy had to jump and cling to the next level of the rafters above him in order to escape the demon’s teeth. Using the momentum of his swing, the Shadowhunter kicked out at the quickest Vermithrall and catapulted it straight onto the floor fifteen meters below them. “Jace!”

  
Huh? What kind of battle cry was that?

  
“Lovely present, thanks!”, the blond on his dance floor yelled back.

  
Oh. A warning, then. Magnus smirked. Those youths certainly had style.

  
Unfortunately, the pretty one was in trouble still. The girl was obviously trying to get to the stairs and help him, but her way was blocked by two demons. And three Vermithrall versus one tiny toy dagger was no fair fight. Sighing, Magnus decided to intervene after all. There was enough blood on the dance floor already, no need to add angel blood to it.

  
The blue sparks around his fingers intensified as he chanted in a low voice. It was a simple spell, meant to push the target a few leagues. In this case, the Vermithrall would go flying over the bar into one of the wards Magnus had placed around the club’s VIP area. That should take care of the vermin, Magnus thought in a satisfied manner. He took his time to line up his arm, fixing his cat eyes on the demon in front of the boy.

  
“Sayonara”, Magnus intoned gleefully and let go. In the same instant the magical projectile crossed the distance, Alec had finally managed to gain some room to maneuver. He obviously hadn’t seen the warlock, nor did he anticipate outside involvement or a spell and least of all its placement. So he was completely shocked as the demon disintegrated and something hit him in the chest like a ton of bricks. His heavy combat boots left the ground as his body was sent flying straight into the smallest Vermithrall.

  
“Oh no!”, Magnus gasped, desperately breaking his own spell where it was still connected to his hand. The backlash sent him flying, too, but at least the lethal force of the magic had dispersed. Magnus crashed into a few boxes, an inelegant landing yet less painful than the wall or the floor would have been. He groaned, checking himself for injuries. His poor backside hurt and his head rung like an Italian church bell. Slowly, he got back to his feet, searching out the damage he’d done.

  
There was nothing to be found. The rest of the Vermithrall had vanished and the cutie…

  
“Alec?” As if on cue, the girl burst through the door, whip wound around her arm. Her almond eyes widened at the sight of him and Magnus would have loved to blame it on his natural beauty, yet her narrowed lips and the fire in her eyes told him otherwise. “What have you done with my brother?”

  
“Err…” He wasn’t lost for words very often and he didn’t relish the feeling. Technically, the wards wouldn't damage a Shadowhunter, only prevent entrance to the VIP area if the cocky Downworld Police tried. But if one of them came flying with as much force as the spell would have caused? His wards weren't designed to handle that kind of involuntary attack. Anything could have happened.

Dragging a hand through his glittery hair, he calculated the odds of the myriad of things that could have occurred when flying Shadowhunter met anti-Shadowhunter ward while he looked the girl up and down. The similarities between the siblings were clearly visible: same silky black hair, same kissable lips, same aura of danger. But where the boy’s eyes had been a startling ice blue, hers were dark brown and currently promising him an ugly death.

  
“There were those demons...”, Magnus began but was saved from rambling by the entrance of the golden haired Shadowhunter, who took one look at the scene and, having labeled Magnus as the villain, promptly pulled the angel sword on him. The tip hovered just millimeters over the warlock’s unblemished skin. Magnus swallowed, cursing himself thrice for getting up from the couch today.

  
“Now, now. Let’s not be hasty”, he said with his most friendly smile. Neither of the young fighters reciprocated the gesture, though.

  
“Where’s Alec?”, the boy asked angrily.

* * *

 

Even with his eyes closed and his body still mostly residing in the land of dreams, Alec new something was wrong. A sense of vertigo intruded, followed by a trickle of fear that developed into a pit of unease in his stomach as Alec tried to open his eyes and couldn’t see anything. He was surrounded by a blackness that was almost absolute, definitely more than one could achieve anywhere in the institute.

Moreover, Alec was 99 percent sure he was hanging upside down, his arms swinging below his head while his feet were stuck somehow above him. He groaned, only now realizing the throbbing pain on his back and most of all his neck.

“That’s why I hate being the bait”, he hissed, hoping for a reply but receiving none. “Things always go wrong. Every. Single. Time.”


End file.
